Download Lecture 13: Medieval China

Lecture 13: Medieval China
China after the Han (220-581)
Division and civil war
Nomads from the Gobi Desert
Effects:
Decline of Confucian principles
Preference for philosophical Daoism
Growth of Buddhism
China Reunified:
The Sui, the Tang, and the Song
The Sui (581-618)
Yang
Jian (Yang Chien)
•Turned to Daoism and Buddhism
•Builder as well as a conqueror
Sui
Yangdi (Sui Yang Ti)
•1400 mile long Grand Canal
•Connects Yellow and Yangtze Rivers
•Used to move commodities to the north
•To move troops quickly
•Was assassinated in 618
China Under the Tang (618 - 907)
Li Yuan established a new dynasty after the murder of the last Sui
Tang Taizong (T’ang T’ai-tsung)
Expansion
Cultural growth – poetry and sculpture
Spread of Buddhism
Internal problems during the Tang dynasty
Border problems and the end of The Tang
The Song Dynasty (960-1279)
Song Taizu (Sung T’ai-tsu)
Problems with nomads
Prosperity and cultural growth
Collapse
Mongols, 1279
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Political Structures: Triumph of Confucianism
The Economy
Still largely agricultural
Land Reform
Tang reduced power of the nobility for short period
Equal field system
Then tried to control through taxes
Innovations in agriculture
The Urban Economy
Significant increase in trade and manufacturing
The Silk Road
Guilds
Credit or “Flying money”
Long distance trade overland and by sea
Silk Road – hazardous
The Maritime Route
Shipping popular
Chang’an – eastern terminus – wealthiest city in world during Tang era
Canton port - 100,000 merchants
View of outside world; smaller countries (younger brothers) and owed fealty to Emperor
Foreign rulers: paid tribute and promised to keep out enemies
Society in Traditional China
Political and Economic changes - more complex societies:
Cities
Countryside
“Base people
Rise of the Gentry
Asia Under the Mongols
The Role of Women
Female children inferior: sold, infanticide
New form of dowry
Foot binding
Women’s rights: north and south
Wu Zhao, (c.625-c.706), Empress Wu
Explosion in Central Asia:
The Mongol Empire
Mongols succeeded the Song as rulers in 1279
The Creation of the Mongol Empire
Genghis Khan (“elected ruler”)
Unified Mongol tribes
The Mongol Conquest of China
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Mongol Rule in China
Khubilai Khan (1260-1294)
Yuan dynasty-capital, Khanbaliq
Eurasian landmass under single rule
Kept Chinese political system
Prosperity through extension of trade
Silk Road, Grand Canal, paved highway
From the Yuan to the Ming
Demise of Yuan
Excessive
spending on foreign campaigns, inadequate tax revenues,
factionalism, court
and bureaucratic corruption, growing
instability
Other Mongol khanates in Central Asia
declined
Khubilai’s successors lacked genius
The Ming Dynasty (1369-1644)
Zhu Yuanzhang conquered Yuan
New era of greatness with strong rulers
Extended rule-Mongolia, Central Asia, Vietnam
Tributary relationship with Korea
Traditional Confucian institutions to rule empire
Manufacturing output, new crops, doubling population
The Voyages of Zhenghe
Emperor Yongle expedition
Opening of China to wider world
Massive profits for sponsors
Backlash
The Ming Turn Inward
Yongle’s death
Voyages discontinued and never revived
Long-term consequences of turning inward away from commerce and toward agriculture
Imperial capital moved from Nanjing back to Beijing
The Great Wall of China
The Apogee of Chinese Culture
In Search of the Way
Rise and Decline of Buddhism and Daoism
Sinification of Buddhism – Chinese characteristics
New sects in Buddhism
Assimilation of Buddhism with Confucian ideology and spirit worship
Buddhism and Daosim lost favor at court
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Neo Confucianism:
The Investigation of Things
Revived Confucianism – neo-Confucianism
To unite metaphysical with pragmatic
“World is real, not illusory; fulfillment comes from participation, not
withdrawal”
Supreme Ultimate (Tai Ji)
Self-cultivation to transcend material world through “investigation of things”
Emphasis on moral principles vs. scientific knowledge
Intellectual affairs in hands of scholar-gentry in China vs the commercial middle
bourgeoisie in Europe
Continuity over change, tradition over innovation
The Apogee of Chinese Culture
Tang and Ming – great age of achievement in literature and art
Buddhist and Daoist images and theme in Chinese poetry and painting
Porcelain flourished
Literature
Invention of paper and woodblock printing
Historical writing and essays
Poetry & Prose
Demonstrated literary talents:
Nature of Chinese Ming poetry
Poets:
Li Bai (Li Taibo) – carefree Daoist
Du Fu – sober Confucian
Tale of the Marshes:
Popular Culture
China’s population: 60 million, more urbanized
Big cities demanded popular entertainment
Art
Song and Yuan – apogee of painting
Buddhist and Daoist sources
Dunhuang Caves– Buddhist wall paintings
Artists retreated to mountains to write, paint to find the Dao, Way, in nature
Landscape “mountain-water”
From color to black ink on white silk
Calligraphy
Ceramics – porcelain
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